Hey all, so i just got the Anytone cable from digirig.
My goal is mainly to use Pinpoint, but I’m having trouble getting it working with soundmodem.
I have the com port detected for the digirig, all the correct settings in the amytone. I see transmissions on the waterfall with no decode, and I cannot figure out how to get the radio to transmit. I know im probably missing something
David,
In soundmodem settings you’ll need to configure PTT by RTS of Digirig’s COM port.
Here are some of the soundmodem related posts:
Great, thank you! I figured I missed something.
Dave Hepner
KB3HWM
I’m also interested in this cable. Thanks!
I connected to the MIC jack and included PIN 4 for the MIC speaker. It worked and I was able to send and receive VARA and Packet just fine. However, I noticed that after going back to the hand mic, the speakermode setting in the radio for Radio Spk (i.e should just route audio to the radio speaker) is no longer cutting off the hand mic speaker. It acts the same now in Radio Spk as it does in Both. The setting for Mic Spk does however still cut audio to the radio speaker. I found the same Signalink documents that AF6TF mentioned and wonder if damage did occur when sharing the speaker ground. The manual actually advises against ground the rear speaker output. Just a warning that it works if you can tolerate not being able to have just the radio speaker.
Both wiring diagrams above work for me without issues.
Hello and thanks for all your effort. I built a protoype of this cable and am able to use the PC based handmic app application successfully. Here the HandType is left at UART. I am attempting to get Vera FM up and running with this configuration, but have not been able to find a scenario where I can get this to work, Part of the issue at least is sharing of the COM port which Vera FM reports as being in use when trying to PTT using the COM port and RTS and I try to use CAT control and Anytone578 does not seem to work either. If someone has this working I would appreciate any pointers on the settings. I see that the previous cable needed Hand type set to Volt-Detect and wired Orange-Dash to Ring two of the Audio cable to generate PTT based on RTS.
Any thoughts are appreciated. I cloned the GIthub repository and do have the ability to work in Python. … Thanks and 73.
I’m not familiar with the particulars of this setup, but in the cases where access to COM port is needed by multiple apps it is either a middleware app that gets the exclusive access and acts as an IP server to multiple clients (onmirig, flrig) or a virtual COM port splitter that creates multiple virtual ports to be used by individual apps. Below are some of the videos on the topic, please report what worked.
Thanks for getting back on this, thinking about what is going on and doing some more experimentation, I realize that I was thinking about this in the wrong way and that running the remote mic software concurrent with the Vara FM is not the intended mode of operation, at least not for now. The remote mic software does trigger the PTT using software, but only if the baud rate is set to 115K, which is interesting since the baud rate of the underlying serial port is defined to be 1200 baud in the Device Manager.
Drilling down on what is going on in the Digirig I think I have determined (I am hoping that his group can confirm or clarify) that what happens is that if the Device manager flow control properties of the Virtual Port are set to hardware then the Hardware TX RTS signal is asserted by the CP2102 whenever communication takes place and this is whenever any data comes down (Digital Audio or serial data) the USB port to the USB2412 …(possibly conditioned by the status of the transmit buffer, but let’s assume that is never an issue here).
This then pulls the R2 pin on the Audio connector that is used in the original cable to trigger the PTT in the Anytone by jumpering to the URX pin on the Anytone Connector. Apparently the URX pin riggers PTT, at least if the HandType is Data Level.
Sorry for being longwinded, but the question here is do I understand the operation and if not what have I got wrong. Any additional color on the role of URX pin would also be welcomed as would any thoughts on how the goal of achieving CAT control of the radio PTT while using VARA FM are welcomed. (PS. It seems that for me at least I can’t get the CAT control Settings in Vara FM version x4.2.9 Under Settings → PTT-> to stay on the setting enter, it always reverts back to Kenwood TS-2000 after I set it to Anyone.) Thanks for any and all information.
Some notes:
USB2412 is a USB hub and basically splits the port without understanding or contributing to any functionality of any of the devices connected downstream
Serial port settings in device manager typically don’t play any role (baud, data bits, stops etc.). The COM port is usually configured by the software that uses it.
Data payload on Audio codec doesn’t affect serial CAT or PTT
My recommendation to keep things simple and at first disable/disconnect anything related to CAT control. Get the station working with just audio+PTT side and then deal with optional CAT functionality. You can post the screenshots of the configuration if you need help with the settings.
Thanks, and I do have the interface working with just the audio cable and the RTS generated PTT … with respect to the 2412, I have been thinking that it repeats whatever comes in from the host to both of the output ports hence my thought that the RTS is generated by the CP2102 when the audio destined for the CM108 comes from the host and is presented on both ports … am I thinking about this correctly or does the 2412 segregate signals destined for the 2102 and the CM108 based on data in the USB stream? Thanks for putting up with my ignorance on this.
USB is a bit more involved with individual devices only getting the data that is addressed to them.
CP2102 is a single purpose UART IC and it is incapable of interpreting anything related to audio. The computer explicitly controls RTS signal via API calls and the software application decides when to activate it.
I’ll summarize the situation with the two cables and different modes.
AT-D578 has an unfortunate arrangement with the same pin on the MIC connector shared between the serial line URX and the hardware PTT. The function is controlled by the Hand Type menu setting and it is set to UART (serial) by default. The stock mic uses the serial communications including keying up via CAT command.
There are two variants of cables offered for AT-D578
Coiled without CAT control - uses hardware PTT line, requires Hand Type set to Volt-Det. In software configuration set PTT to RTS of Digirig’s COM port. Can use Digirig in any configuration.
Short with CAT control - uses PTT over serial CAT, requires Hand Type set to Uart-Det. In software configuration set PTT to CAT and configure CAT settings including baud rate and other parameters. This requires Digirig in logic levels configuration. This arrangement will not work if the digital modes software doesn’t support CAT functionality or AT-D578UV profile specifically. PTT by RTS is not available and sleeve to ring 2 cable test will not work.
For 2, Winlink with VARA FM is an example of software that works with this configuration.
There was a bug in the last version of VARA, but it’s fixed now. Try the latest version.
Rob,
Thanks for the info. If not too much trouble, can you please share the screenshots of the CAT control configuration (baud, bits and anything that’s relevant). Thank you.
Below is the settings info from my email exchange with Greg AI5HV
I did some additional testing and here is what I found.
I was able to make both the AnyTone 578 audio only cable and the AnyTone 578 CAT and audio cable work.
Tests were performed with the following equipment:
AnyTone 578UVIIIPro
Digirig Rev 1.9
AnyTone 578 audio only cable
AnyTone 578 CAT and audio cable
Windows 11 laptop
With the audio only cable the user MUST do the following:
Radio setting changes
- Set the squelch to 0: Menu / Settings / 1. Radio Set / Other Func / 6. Ana Sq Level / 1. Ana SQ OFF was set to 1. It will work if there is a lot of background noise that you set the Ana SQ Level to 1.
- Change the audio to mic: Menu / Settings / 1. Radio Set / Voice Func / 7. Speaker Mode / 1. Mic Spk was set to 3. Both
- Change the mic type from serial to voltage detection for PTT to work: Menu / Settings / 1. Radio Set / 4. Other Func / 28. Hand Type / 2. Volt-Det. (Note: Don’t forget to change it back to 1. Uart-Det for normal hand mic operations.)
In WSJTX, PTT works fine with the audio only cable for testing.
In VARA FM the PTT setting MUST be as follows (the COM port will vary from one computer to the next depending on what COM port is assigned in Device Manager)
With the CAT and audio only cable the user can leave the settings as follows:
Radio setting changes
- Set the squelch to 0: Menu / Settings / 1. Radio Set / Other Func / 6. Ana Sq Level / 1. Ana SQ OFF was set to 1. It will work if there is a lot of background noise that you set the Ana SQ Level to 1.
- Change the audio to mic: Menu / Settings / 1. Radio Set / Voice Func / 7. Speaker Mode / 1. Mic Spk was set to 3. Both (This setting can be left set to Both but the user will hear the data transmit tones on the radio speaker).
- Change the mic type from serial to voltage detection for PTT to work: Menu / Settings / 1. Radio Set / 4. Other Func / 28. Hand Type / 1. Uart-Det. DOES NOT NEED TO BE CHANGED.
In VARA FM the PTT setting MUST be as follows (the COM port will vary from one computer to the next depending on what COM port is assigned in Device Manager)
I even tested unplugging the CAT cable from the Digirig in this configuration and confirmed that PTT DOES NOT WORK without the CAT cable plugged in.
In WSJTX, PTT works fine with the audio only cable for testing, but it does not appear to work using the CAT and audio cable. There is no entry to select a radio type of AnyTone 578 within this software.
Using the CAT and audio cable appeals to me because I can leave the radio settings alone and not have to change anything.
Just getting back around to this. For me, with the CAT cable/config, I don’t check RTS. I also get away with the SQL at 1.
Hi,
I’m quite new HAM and things have gone pretty fast for me.
I have Anytone AT-D578UV AIR PLUS at home and couple UV-K5 Handhelds.
Me planning to get Digirig so what CAT Config logic level i need to order from webpage if I’m planning to use Short cable with CAT control?
Does this CAT control cable also work as coiled without cat control mode?
Another dumb question is: Does all CAT Config Digirigs work on simple HT like Baofeng and Quansheng with right cables?
